I have, a few times in my teaching career, shown Red Dawn in my social studies classes. The ostensible reason was to show attitudes and fears during the Cold War, although the real reason was to watch an exciting war movie. The kids have often (although, to my surprise, not always) gotten into it, but a couple of years ago one boy, when it was ( Read more... )

I will have a student teacher in the spring, and I am really looking forward to it, but I also feel a little bit guilty ( Read more... )

In 1862, Abraham Lincoln placed John Pope in command of the Union Army after the vain and boastful George McClellan disappointed him so slowly, but surely, on the Peninsula in Virginia. When Pope also failed at the Second Battle of Manassas, Lincoln felt forced to turn back to McClellan (who said he had been called upon again to save the country ( Read more... )

From time to time a newspaper article surfaces featuring the last casualty of World War I or World War II, who is usually a farmer in France or a construction worker in Germany blown up by an old land mine or an unexploded bomb. I do not think any unexploded bombs remain around Fort McHenry, nor were mines, torpedoes, or other infernal devices ( Read more... )

I recently discovered this video, and feel that the next step is to find a way to apply its principles to every form of board game.

Click to view

I wish I had some more brilliant commentary, but sadly, it is past my bed time.

We had our last Mediæval Battle Association meeting of the year this afternoon, and it was a big one. It was activities day, and the assistant principal in charge of student activities asked us to put on an exhibition in the practise field. I think it was a fair success and drew some positive attention to us. Then we went back to our regular ( Read more... )

Of course, Tuesday was Saint Dunstan's Day, when we remember the Archbishop of Canterbury who grabbed the devil by the nose with his smithing tongs. Naturally, we played horseshoes ( Read more... )

Robin and I plan to go to the British Isles this summer. We will fly into London, spend a few days there, then cross southern England into South Wales and then take a ferry to Ireland. We'll probably be there two or two and a half weeks (I need to book our tickets soon). The problem is what to do while we are there ( Read more... )

As mentioned in my last post, I am deeply annoyed by Board Game Geek's hostility to the game Risk. I wrote a little review of it, but I wanted to write more, so here it is ( Read more... )

The web site Board Game Geek is one of my most deadly time-wasters (although I am embarrassed to admit that Facebook's silly little games are even worse for me) and a dangerous inducement to spend money unnecessarily. It has reviews, strategy, and other information on board games, which are my principal hobby these days (much as I love and miss re ( Read more... )